Page 73 of The Last Hope

Hands free, Kinden yanks off his gag and picks himself upto a self-important stance. Unafraid. Confidence still ringing out in every fiber of his being, my brother saunters over to me.

C-Jays scream so forcefully. Faces reddening and voices cracking in desperate pleas. Begging me to move, to look out.

To protect myself.

Understanding hits me all at once.

I blink back brutal emotion. Choked on a raw feeling.

Humanity.

I always dreamed about a world where people try to save other people. Now I’m aiming an arrow at what I fought for. What I went to prison for. What I would’ve died for.

My chin quakes, my arms tremble.

Kinden nears, seeing them. Seeing me. And he cups my bicep. “This is breaking you, little brother.” He guides my arm down with my weapon. “I’ll survive their anger.”

I inhale, lashes wet as I blink. And I release my grip on the bow and arrow. Weapon clattering to the ground.

A hush sweeps over the C-Jays. Whispering, their wide eyes drift from Kinden to me and me to Kinden.

My chest hits the ground—no,I’m standing. I’m upright.

Franny.

It’s Franny.

She just dove beneath Venita’s shield. Crawling out toward us, she shimmies her elbows on the tarmac until she rises to her feet.

Stork catches her around the waist—his grip is loose. I sense just how little he holds on, and Franny does too. Questions furrow her brows, and her boil dies to a simmer.

Mykal only halfway unties Zimmer before shooting upward. Fists clenched, he’s about to charge—

“Mykal, wait,” I call.

Nose flaring, he fumes and treks over to me, concentrating more on her senses.

Kinden asks me, “You trust the one with the earring?”

“Somewhat,” I admit.

Mykal splays his arm over my stiffened shoulders and hugs me tight to his side—I breathe deeper in his embrace.

Gently, Stork eases Franny back into his chest. “No one approach or hurt the Saltarians,” he tells the C-Jays, and to the three of us, he says in the same human language, “Trust me. The fleet needs to trustthembefore we can move forward in unison.”

He’s aware theSaga 4can’t understand this conversation.

He plans to test their loyalty, and Franny comprehends this as well. Still, I worry. Mykal worries, but then she nods fiercely to me. To him.

She’s fine.

I hang on to the words. Letting them sink in until my concern recedes little by little.

She’s fine.

I nod back.

Our pulses sync in an assured rhythm.